Author Topic: Book advice wanted  (Read 6526 times)

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Offline Sandwich

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Hey all, I'll be going on a short-ish jaunt to the states to visit relatives (Florida and NY, if you must know..   ), and my dad already has plans to hit the bookstores in the area.  

I like sci-fi, so far the best I've read has been Timothy Zahn and Peter David (of course, Tolkein also rules, but that's another genre...). I'm looking to enlarge my David Weber collection from one measly book, and to start an Iain M. Banks collection, but I was wondering if you had any other "highly recommended" books...?  

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America, stand assured that Israel truly understands what you are going through.

"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)
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"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill

 

Offline Shrike

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If you like Weber, you'll like Drake.  Get the Hammer's Slammers books.  Get them now.

Edit:  David Drake.

[This message has been edited by Shrike (edited 11-19-2001).]
WE ARE HARD LIGHT PRODUCTIONS. YOU WILL LOWER YOUR FIREWALLS AND SURRENDER YOUR KEYBOARDS. WE WILL ADD YOUR INTELLECTUAL AND VERNACULAR DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR FORUMS WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

 

Offline heretic

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Hyperion, and the Fall of Hyperion

Dragonsdawn series

Cassini Division

Dune

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Currently experiencing the unbridled excitement of interstellar commerce
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Offline Taristin

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"Velcomb! Velcomb! Ve ahr honored you chose our vorzless state to vizit! Please note, ven you go zru customs, you vill be checked zouroghly, and may be helled asside, because of your ****ry of origin. Please understnd zat zis is our new policy tovards people fisittng from foreign nations, zat may haff people ve do not vant here. Zank You."
Freelance Modeler | Amateur Artist

 

Offline Sandwich

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Quote
Originally posted by Raa Tor'h:
Please note, ven you go zru customs, you vill be checked zouroghly...

Oh, spare me!   We've had higher security checks for decades then the US has ever seen... Does the US have male and female soldiers armed with assault rifles patrolling the streets of her cities, to a frequency of one per 20 square yards downtown? Does the US have armed guards with walk-through metal detectors at the entrances to her malls? Does the US have bomb-squads running around the country for at least one real bomb scare per day? Does the US have armed guards at the entrances to her coffee shops!?

Didn't think so.

BTW, I know that seems harsh - it was meant to be. But it's not directed at Raa Tor'h or anyone else on these boards - it was simply to get a point across.  



------------------
America, stand assured that Israel truly understands what you are going through.

"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)
SERIOUSLY...! | {The Sandvich Bar} - Rhino-FS2 Tutorial | CapShip Turret Upgrade | The Complete FS2 Ship List | System Background Package

"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill

 

Offline Shrike

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Book, children, books!
WE ARE HARD LIGHT PRODUCTIONS. YOU WILL LOWER YOUR FIREWALLS AND SURRENDER YOUR KEYBOARDS. WE WILL ADD YOUR INTELLECTUAL AND VERNACULAR DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR FORUMS WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

 

Offline IceFire

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Buy my aunts set of novels.  Canadian sci-fi author...quite good I think (sells well anyways).

Julie E. Czerneda
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A Thousand Words For Stranger
Beholders Eye
Ties of Power
Changing Vision
In The Company of Others

Check em out if you so please.

There, my self promotion of my family for once in a lifetime.  Yay!
- IceFire
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Offline Alikchi

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Try Harry Turtledove. Really good Alternative History author, lots of fun to read his books. If you want something epic, try Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Verrrrrry nice.


EDIT: Added a few more Rs to "very"  

[This message has been edited by Alikchi (edited 11-19-2001).]
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Offline Thorn

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I'm not sure if youre into this kind of stuff, but a book that I really enjoyed was Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy (no not the computer game damnit!).
If you havent heard of either, its about a covert multinational counter-terrorist team called Rainbow (Six means head guy, leader, CO). Thats about all I can say without revealing too much of the book.

 

Offline Alikchi

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It was an OK book. When it comes to miltary fiction, though, I'm starting to like Patrick Robinson. He wrote Nimitz Class, Kilo Class, and somethingelse class and is writing more, they're all really quite good.
"Going too far and caring too much about a subject is the best way to make friends that I know."
- Sarah Vowell

 

Offline Grey Wolf

If you're into some fantasy, you might want to try reading Mercedes Lackey's books. I suggest the SERRAted Edge series. Elves in modern day US.

[This message has been edited by Grey Wolf 2009 (edited 11-19-2001).]
You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?" -George Bernard Shaw

 

Offline Taristin

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Quote
Originally posted by heretic:
Dragonsdawn series

Those were very good!
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Offline Sandwich

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Quote
Originally posted by Alikchi:
Try Harry Turtledove. Really good Alternative History author, lots of fun to read his books.

Read his "Agent of Byzantium", and loved it.   Thanks for the reminder.

 
Quote
Originally posted by Thorn:
I'm not sure if youre into this kind of stuff, but a book that I really enjoyed was Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy (no not the computer game damnit!).

Read it, as well as many other Clancy novels. He's good.  


------------------
America, stand assured that Israel truly understands what you are going through.

"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)
SERIOUSLY...! | {The Sandvich Bar} - Rhino-FS2 Tutorial | CapShip Turret Upgrade | The Complete FS2 Ship List | System Background Package

"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill

 

Offline Setekh

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I really like Stephen Baxter, a hard sf author. His ideas are great, I read his Manifold Sequence (three medium-sized paperbacks) in a little under a week, could'nt put 'em down.  

Tom Clancy's okay, though it's been a while since I read one of his ones. (R6 comes highly recommended from me, too!) I'm a hard sf'er, now.  
- Eddie Kent Woo, Setekh, Steak (of Steaks), AWACS. Seriously, just pick one.
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Offline Fineus

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I like the Rama series of books, they're really very good.

However my favourite book of all time would have to be Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

 

Offline Sandwich

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Quote
Originally posted by Thunder:
...Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Is that anything like Terry's other *ahem* books?    



------------------
America, stand assured that Israel truly understands what you are going through.

"He who laughs last thinks slowest."
"Just becase you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
"To err is human; to really screw up you need a computer."
Creator of the Sandvich Bar, the CapShip Turret Upgrade, the Complete FS2 Ship List and the System Backgrounds List (all available from the site)
SERIOUSLY...! | {The Sandvich Bar} - Rhino-FS2 Tutorial | CapShip Turret Upgrade | The Complete FS2 Ship List | System Background Package

"...The quintessential quality of our age is that of dreams coming true. Just think of it. For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so  on, and so on: and, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams - we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease our consciences. The truly wishful dreams, the many-minded dreams are now irresistible - they become facts." - 'The Outward Urge' by John Wyndham

"The very essence of tolerance rests on the fact that we have to be intolerant of intolerance. Stretching right back to Kant, through the Frankfurt School and up to today, liberalism means that we can do anything we like as long as we don't hurt others. This means that if we are tolerant of others' intolerance - especially when that intolerance is a call for genocide - then all we are doing is allowing that intolerance to flourish, and allowing the violence that will spring from that intolerance to continue unabated." - Bren Carlill

 

Offline Fineus

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Not a fan of his work then? I love all the Diskworld books, they're excellent.

And as a rapid introduction:

Good Omens features a demon and an angel who are sent to earth to bring about armageddon but as it turns out they like eachother and earth, soon they join together to try and prevent judgement day from happening.

Thats just a quick overview - it's very funny and I haven't even mentioned the Anti-Christ or his Hell Hound, go read it to find out  

 
If you're into a little wierdness, pick up the Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy.  Douglas Adams really knows how to write.

 

Offline joek

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Sci-fi books?

 
Quote
Originally posted by heretic:
Cassini Division

Definately.

 
Quote
Originally posted by Setekh:
I really like Stephen Baxter, a hard sf author.

Ditto. (also Moonseed and The Light of Other Days).

Also:
"The Past Through Tomorrow" by Robert A. Heinlein (old stuff, back when they didn't know what Venus is really like, but good stuff).
"Earthclan" by David Brin (I haven't read the sequels yet, but this one was good).
"Starfarers" by Poul Anderson (people go on an exploration at near light speeds which will get them back to Earth 120,000 years later, langer than humans have been on Earth)
"Steel Beach" by John Varley (interesting view of a society living in the moon after being kicked off the Earth)
"Far Futures" by various, ed. by Gregory Benford (really far out stuff in far away futures we can barely imagine).

Those are just some of my recent favorites.

Joe.
No, he's not back for real, just popping his head in to say "hello" while on break from classes.

 

Offline Fineus

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Quote
Originally posted by WarpStar:
Douglas Adams really knows how to write.

You mean knew